“Shame Them” Into Negotiating Again

This email effort by a producer who asks me not to publish his name has spread like wild fire through not only the film tracking boards but also into the television world. (I’ve just been told that IATSE is doing something very similar):

“This might seem a little out there but I think it’s worth a shot. I’ve found myself really emotionally affected by the collateral damage this strike is taking (and so much more quickly than I think any of us anticipated) so I’m going to try and do something:

We’re collecting names of people who have lost their jobs (if someone doesn’t want to be on this list, of course please respect that), where they worked, and what their position was. Once it’s reached a decent number, this list will be paired with a letter to Patric Verrone and Nick Counter DEMANDING they get back into a room and resume negotiating immediately (and not emerge until there is an agreement) for the sake of those losing their jobs. They can negotiate while picketing continues and there’s no reason massive documents of whole new proposals have to be drawn up before they go back into a room and speak like adults. It will say NOTHING regarding the points of the strike. Just: Go. Back. To. Negotiating. All of these peoples’ jobs, rent, student loans, lives, have been destroyed.

The plan is to CC the letter and the list of names to Nikki Finke and hopefully Patrick Goldstein or the like after that. Each day as we get more names on the list, we’ll send the letter and list again. And again. Hopefully shaming them and making it impossible to ignore. Please forward this to anyone that might have lost their job and tell them they can email me directly. We’ll see what happens.